MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

8/31 AFL roster – UPDATED

The Cubs have seven players who will play in the Arizona Fall League, which begins Oct. 12. The list includes pitchers David Cales, Chris Carpenter, Jake Muyco and Kyle Smit, infielders Ryan Flaherty and Josh Vitters, and outfielder Brett Jackson. They’ll all be on the Mesa Solar Sox roster, which will be managed by Casey Kopitzke.

Vitters has been sidelined with a broken hand after he was hit by a pitch in late July. He began the season at Class A Daytona and batted .291 with three homers and 13 RBIs in 28 games, then was promoted to Double-A Tennessee, where he batted .223 in 63 games.

“Vitters is healthy,” Cubs player development director Oneri Fleita said Tuesday. “He’ll start taking ground balls this week. He starts hitting next week. The plan is to be ready for instructional league on [Sept. 15] when we arrive and he’ll play in the Arizona Fall League. He’ll get the at-bats he missed and then go to our winter program in Arizona and get ready for Spring Training.”

Jackson, the Cubs’ No. 1 pick in 2009, also began the season at Daytona and hit .316 in 67 games with six homers, 19 doubles and 38 RBIs. He was moved up to Tennessee on June 27 and was hitting .274 in 55 games with five homers, 11 doubles, five triples and 23 RBIs. Jackson was hitting .250 in August.

“It’s the first time he’s played 140 games,” Fleita said of the outfielder. “He didn’t get much time off. He’s being challenged. As soon as [the Smokies] get into the playoffs, I’m sure his juices will get going.”

The other Cubs players who will compete for the Mesa Solar Sox in the AFL include pitchers David Cales, Chris Carpenter, Jake Muyco and Kyle Smit and infielder Ryan Flaherty.

Cales has pitched solely in relief, appearing in 35 games at Tennessee and compiling a 2.51 ERA with 11 saves before he was promoted to Triple-A Iowa July 8. A right-hander who was a 24th-round pick in 2008 and “throws from a different angle,” Fleita said, Cales has a 7.43 ERA in 20 games at Iowa.

Carpenter was 8-6 with a 3.16 ERA in 23 games at Tennessee, striking out 100 in 119 2/3 innings. He was moved up to Iowa Aug. 24 and in two starts, did not have a record, and has given up seven runs on 16 hits and six walks over nine innings.

Muyco, a converted catcher, appeared in 40 games, all in relief at Tennessee, posting a 3.67 ERA, and has pitched at Iowa this month, with a 4.91 ERA in 11 relief appearances.

Smit was acquired from the Dodgers along with Blake DeWitt for Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot. In nine games in relief with the Cubs’ Tennessee team, he’s 4-1 with a 2.25 ERA.

Flaherty has played second, shortstop and third, and batted .288 in 101 games with Daytona, hitting nine homers, 33 doubles and three triples with 59 RBIs. In 23 games at Tennessee, he’s batting .183 with one homer and two doubles.

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